Tag: Canada

November 24, 2015. The Indiana Pacers and Washington Wizards produced a thrilling 123-106 result. Anyone who watched it on the local television remembers Paul George’s 40 points. We remember the Pacers draining a franchise-record 19 threes. But who remembers the massive box score of C.J. Miles? The 6’6″ wing put up 32 points on the night, draining eight threes out of nine attempts, leading to a +27 plus/minus. In only thirty minutes.

In fact, Miles has done this quite often since joining the league as a wide-eyed 18 year old. Since joining Indiana from the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2014, now 30 year old C.J. has averaged over 10 points per game despite only playing half the minutes of regular starters. He’s no slouch from behind the arc, only dipping below a .320 average once since 2006-07. But Miles wasn’t getting enough playing time in Indiana, and he needed a change. Especially for a player as good as the 6’6″ wing.

Enter the Toronto Raptors. The Eastern Conference finalists allowed Patrick Patterson and P.J. Tucker to walk away in free agency. They nabbed a player who posted a higher points-per-possession ratio than noted flamethrower Steph Curry on the NBA’s 137th highest contract. Who’s that, you ask?

Welcome back to Upon Further Review, where today I review my CONCACAF Gold Cup group stage and quarterfinal predictions. Here goes.

Group A contained the likes of Costa Rica, Canada, French Guiana, and Honduras. I predicted Costa Rica to top the group. The Ticos did so without a loss. I then said Honduras would finish second with Canada third. The teams swapped positions in real life unfortunately. Everyone would’ve anticipated French Guiana to finish bottom and they did so. However, the hilarious drama created by the French overseas department fielding the ineligible Florent Malouda brought a smile to many fans.

Group B consisted of Panama, Nicaragua, the United States, and island Martinique. Go right down the line as I correctly predicted the USA to top the group with Panama, Martinique, and Nicaragua following.

Group C was the most obvious outcome of them all.I predicted Mexico to top the group and Jamaica second. The final spots were a toss-up and I got them right, putting El Salvador third and Curaçao fourth.

The first quarterfinal featured an intensely boring game between Costa Rica and Panama where Los Ticos did as I predicted, vanquishing the bronze medalists of 2015.

Second and third quarterfinals. US and Mexico win comfortably. Next.

Finally, Jamaica and Canada faced off in the quarter everyone wanted to see. An early goal from Shaun Francis opened the scoring. Jamaica doubled their lead in the 50th minute before Junior Hoilett gave Canada hope 11 minutes later. No further goals were scored and Jamaica moves on, completing my perfect sweep of the quarters.